Svätý Jur Elementary School

The first written reference to the school in Svätý Jur dates back to 1650, when a three-class evangelical school was established. After the transfer of the Evangelical Church to the Catholic Church in 1685, the Piarists restored the Latin school on its premises. In 1724, the Jews founded their school in the city.

In 1857, the Austrian government established a two-class real school with Czech and German as the language of instruction. Hungarian oppression culminated at the turn of two centuries, when religion, until then the only subject taught in Slovak, began to learn Hungarian.

After the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918, there was a state folk school in the town, which was first located in the upper barracks. After the building burned down, the school was moved to a two-storey house on Kautzova Street. The classrooms were located on the first floor of the street, there was a barracks on the ground floor and a barracks for horses and warehouses in the back. The building was unsuitable, the classrooms were dark and smelled of rot. During the first ten post-war years, four directors worked at the state folk school: Karol Kardoš, Ján Natšin, Ján Klačko, Ján Profeld.

An important change occurred in 1931, when on September 30, they established a state burgher school in Svätý Jur. Eugen Klačko became the director of the school, under which the former state folk school was also included. The location of the school was only temporary. The two classes, together with the director's office and cabinet, were located in a former Piarist monastery. It also lent teaching aids to the school.

Due to unsatisfactory conditions, on December 28, 1931, the city council undertook to build a new building for both schools. The city bought the building of the old Drechsler factory for CZK 400,000, in which production stopped after the war. CZK 3 million was budgeted for the reconstruction. The handover of the school was expected on September 1, 1938. In the presence of the school inspector Jozka, the government commissioner Lowenstein, the leading notary Karol Fikár, the chairman of the school board Augustín Bachratý and the school principal Eugen Klačka on August 26, 1938, they divided rooms for both schools in the building. Due to the mobilization, teaching in the new school began on November 1, 1938.
Among the most important personalities of the interwar history of the school we can include the director Eugen Klačka, who also held the position of mayor of the city. He was the son of the former director Ján Klaček and he worked in education all his life. Among the many other teachers, Arpád Felcán, Gejza Bachratý, Ján Majlink, František Machráň, Peter Jilemnický, Ján Hložka, Anton Kudja-Riavin, Teodor Kunst are well known.

The school year 1938/39 was the first in the new school, but also the last year before the outbreak of World War II. At the end of the school year 1938/1939, the director Klačko informed the teachers' meeting that from the school year 1939/40, the school would be divided again into two separate, folk and burgher schools. Director Klačko was transferred to Nové Zámky on November 3, 1939. Dezider Uhrín became the director of the burgher school, Edmund Strelka was appointed director of the folk school. By order of the Ministry of Education and National Enlightenment of 17 April 1939, a folk school with German as the language of instruction was established from the German branch, and its administrator was Emerich Bartholy.

During the war years, several teachers were replaced at the folk school. A similar situation was in the cast of directors. After Dezider Uhrín, Móric Krajčí became the school principal. In the school year 1941/42, three principals were replaced at the school. After the departure of Dezider Móric on January 20, 1942, the director was represented by a specialist teacher Jozef Lovasík. From March 10, 1942 until the end of the war, Gejza Bachratý was the director.
We have information about the war years at the folk school from the school chronicle. In the first year of the war, three weeks were not taught during the harsh winter, when there was no wood. Teaching was often interrupted by air raids. In the school year 1944, from October 10, the building was occupied by Hitler Jugend units. It was taught in only one classroom.
Despite the difficult conditions, the school fulfilled its mission. Minutes from pedagogical meetings talk about the analysis of observations, joint events and cultural events. From this period, a literary party is recorded in the gym with the participation of Slovak writers such as Ján Smrek, Ján Poničan, Ján Kostra, Ľudo Ondrejov, Emil Boleslav Lukáč, Ľudo Zúbek, Mária Jančová and František Hečko. It was one of the important events in the history of the school.
During the post-war years, in accordance with the law, the former folk school was transformed into a Roman Catholic folk school. A primary school was established from the German folk school. The reaction to these changes is illustrated by the director E. Strelka in the school chronicle as follows: "This statutory regulation brings about a complete change in the Slovak population, which was not accepted either by teachers or by the general public with great understanding."